The Lost and Lonely
by queenofgoblins
Summary: Beatrix has come into the Labyrinth purely by accident. What will happen when the Goblin King finds her and will he ever get his Sarah back?
1. Chapter 1

This is a Labyrinth fanfic, I just haven't got the Labyrinth part yet [=

**Disclaimer: (even though I haven't used any of it yet) anything linking to Labyrinth I don't own. Sadly...**

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**The Lost and Lonely.**

Beatrix tentatively opened the front door. Hitching her college bag up her shoulder a bit, she glanced around the open door into the house. It seemed that no one was or if they were, they were watching TV in the 'family room'. Beatrix winkled her nose in disgust at the name.

Breathing a sigh of relief that aggravated her broken rib, she entered slowly, closing the door behind her silently. She tip-toed to the stairs as quickly as she could dare without risking making a sound. When she slowly and silently had reached the top she looked at the floor judging the distance even though she had done all this a hundred times. Beatrix braced herself and jumped stealthily over what she knew was a creaky floorboard underneath the plush carpet. The jolt as she landed had her almost crying out in pain as fire sliced through the side of her chest. Whimpering softly and clutching her tender side she crept to her bedroom door and opened it . Beatrix heard movement downstairs and her heart started beating frantically. She froze and waited for more sounds but none came.

Moving with a new sense of urgency Beatrix entered her room, not even glancing at the artwork on her walls that she usually stopped to become absorbed in. Instead, she emptied the contents of her college bag onto her bed and started rifling through it. From the pile of old letters and pens and a small red book she came across what she needed: a screwdriver, screws and two heavy duty bolt locks. Beatrix had 'borrowed' them from her college's construction department. It hadn't been hard to persuade someone to get them for her. They didn't even question her when she had blinked her baby blues and tried to be as charming as possible. She ignored requests for her phone number, thanked them and left without a backwards glance.

Concentrating now on what she had to do, Beatrix set about fixing the bolt locks in place soundlessly. Getting the screws to go in using nothing but her own strength was hard going after a while, especially considering her wrists were weak anyway having been broken a few times already. Gritting her teeth she slowly put in place every screw and made sure they were extra tight. Once she had put one lock on the top of the door and one on the bottom she slid the bolts into place. A mild sense of safety enveloped her the second that second bolt had slid into place but Beatrix knew it would only last as long as those locks did, which wouldn't be very long.

Beatrix set up a tape player on her desk, rewound it to the beginning and faced the speaker towards the door. She then picked up a backpack that already had a few clothes in. She put the small red book from her college bag in it, gently running her fingertips over the gold lettering used for the title as she did so. She then went to her jewellery box and took out anything valuable or sentimental, not that she had much of either in there. She had already sent off most of her valued things to her best friend to keep hold of until this night. So there wasn't much she had to carry, which was ideal.

Beatrix looked at her artwork with a sense of melancholy. She hadn't been able to save them. Her original plan had been to photocopy them, then leave the copies in the frames, but copying cost money that Beatrix couldn't afford to spend. Not to mention they'd probably only get damaged anyway. Beatrix took a photo of each one on her phone, trying to get them as perfectly lined in the frame as she could and choked back a sob. Gaining control of her breathing again, Beatrix made sure everything was ready and sat on her windowsill and waited.

After about half an hour the phone downstairs started to ring. Beatrix felt every tendon, ligament muscle and nerve tighten in her body, coiled and ready to burst into action. Sweat was starting to bead on her forehead and she wiped it away with the faux leather glove she was wearing. The ringing was suddenly cut off after a bit of shuffling and mumbling. Beatrix could practically hear the conversation. After all, she knew her mother well and had planned accordingly. It would be her mother calling to say that she and Steph, Beatrix's half sister, would be staying in a hotel tonight after Steph's ballet performance because they would both be tired and not up to the 2 hour drive back. Beatrix snorted in disgust. Maybe if her mother actually hit the speed limit she'd be back within an hour and would be able to prevent what Beatrix knew would happen as soon as the phone got put down. _Well not tonight._

Beatrix was torn from her bitter thoughts by the unmistakable sound of a foot on the bottom stair. She was so attuned to _His_ footsteps on those stairs she could even tell you which foot was on which stair. Feeling panic wash over her, Beatrix battled to keep the hysterics threatening to overwhelm her at bay. As a left foot hit the last stair Beatrix felt every single ounce of panic disappear, leaving only calm and anticipation. She was just as alert and could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body and the unmistakable creak of the floorboard gave away _His_ position. In a single graceful movement, Beatrix hit the play button on the tape player, opened the window and swung a leg over the window sill. Making sure her bag was on her back properly and everything was as it should be waited for the first turn of the door handle. When it didn't open Beatrix's voice broke the silence.

"Go away! Leave me alone!" Beatrix's voice shrieked in the room. The door was being shaken. "what have you blocked the door with you bitch! It won't stop me!" an angry male voice shouted through the wood. "please just leave me alone!" Beatrix's voice shouted again a few seconds later. Smirking, Beatrix listened to her tape recording begging to be left alone and climbed out the window. Sliding down the pipe down the side of the house she heard a terrible crash as her door was knocked off it's hinges. Just as she reached the ground she twisted her ankle. Crying out in pain she looked up at her window to see a malevolent glare meeting her eyes. Making a rude, single-fingered gesture she ran into the darkness, limping and cursing.

It didn't take long for him to find her, limping as she was. Her stepfather wasn't the stereotypical abusive stepfather, he was physically fit and healthy, heck he occasionally did marathons! But those memories that refused to leave her of hot breath on her face in the dark propelled her. He was cursing unintelligibly at her and tears streamed down her face as she could sense him gaining on her. in a last desperate attempt to escape her nightmares she ran across the road as a pair of headlights approached her at high speed. Closing her eyes and shielding her face she choked back a sob and spoke. What she said was more of a comforting thing rather than actually believing it would work. Taking a line from her favourite book and altering it she mumbled repeatedly like a mantra at high speed: "I wish the goblins would come and take me away right now, I wish the goblins would come and take me away right now, I wish the goblins woul-" the headlight were almost upon her so she stopped chanting, opened her mouth and screamed.

**It would be lovely if I could be reviewed. All feedback is more than welcome! Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Labyrinth, or any of it's characters, sadly.**

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The Lost and Lonely

**Chapter 2 - Darkness...**

Beatrix stopped screaming, everything was silent. There were no headlights turning the inside of her eyelids red. There seemed to be nothing. No breeze, no sound, no light. She opened her eyes. Blinking she realised just how much darkness she was in. It was completely pitch black, she hoped that when she opened her eyes, some kind of light would show itself. Maybe her eyes just needed to adjust? No matter how many times she blinked, only blackness greeted her. Beatrice closed her eyes again and wrapped her arms around herself, something she always did for comfort.

Feeling panic wash over her she started gasping, feeling a familiar tightness in her chest that informed her she was in the beginning phase of a panic attack. Knowing that she had to control herself she tried to focus on any positives to her situation. She wasn't in any pain and no one was chasing her. "Am I dead?" She asked herself out loud, aware that she must be alone. She couldn't hear breathing or alien movement at least. It occurred to her that even if she had died this wasn't as bad as what she had come from was it? Though she hoped this wasn't all she would experience for all eternity. She was a good person after all and the senseory deprivation was already starting to get to her. After a few moments, and more than a few semi-crazy ideas about her whereabouts - including the Batcave - Beatrix was able to ascertain that she still had her bag, why would she have that if she was dead?

Blind in the dark, but with a new sense of hope, Beatrix took her bag off her back and knelt down on the floor with it to open it. As she lost a little balance she put a hand on the floor to steady herself. The floor was rough and cold. Definitely stone. Small stones rolled away from her fingers at the contact. Beatrix started rooting through her back, using only her sense of touch. First she came across a bar of chocolate. She took it out and laid it beside the bag. Next, she rumaged around and found her torch. Taking it out she switched it on and swung the beam around what she then learned appeared to be a cave or a crude stone room. There were no windows or doors, though there was a blocked up hole high above her head. Despite never having been in this place before, Beatrice felt an odd sense of familiarity or deja vu. Maybe she had seen something similar in a dream? She doubted it. Usually her dreams were pleasant. Her subconsciousness constantly trying to dull the agony that was her conscious life.

Beatrix picked up her chocolate and unwrapped it. She took a bite and paused as the torch shone on a crude wooden bench. Curious, she picked up her bag, stood up and walked over to it. Sitting down with her bag on her lap, she took her phone out from a small side pocket. Unsurprisingly, it informed her that she had 'no signal'. Unperturbed, she replaced it and shone the torch into her bag once again. Rummaging again the torchlight reflected off of something gold. Pausing, Beatrix reached in and took out the slim red volume she had put in her bag earlier. Smiling warmly, she took it out, once again running her fingers over the title, 'Labyrinth'. Beatrix opened the book at the place where her small bookmark in the shape of a badger was and settled down to read by torchlight. After all, she was tired and wanted a chance to relax. She was exhausted but too wound up to rest. The book was also bring temporary release from her strange situation.

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**Review please! I want to know if I'm doing anything right/wrong. Also I don't want to feel like I'm wasting my time ]=**


	3. Chapter 3

Jareth glared into one of his crystals. It was difficult to make out the girl's features because of the darkness and the distortion her torchlight caused. However, it was easy enough to see that there was a strange girl lurking somewhere in his kingdom. The whole situation reminded him of someone he had spent the past few years trying to forget. Trying to stifle a growl of anger and frustration, he threw the crystal against the furthest wall of his throne room, causing nearby chickens to flap frantically away from the glittering shards.

At the sound of the Goblin King's outburst, a short, brown, stumpy creature entered the room, looking more than a little fearful. Jareth barely even acknowledge the creature's appearance into his presence other than flicking his eyes towards it briefly. Cautiously, the small being spoke;

"what ever is the matter your majesty?"

Jareth gave his company the most withering glare that it seemed to shrivel in on itself a little.

Standing up, Jareth asking in a deadly calm voice;

"Hoggle, why is there a strange girl in one of the oubliettes?" Although he knew the dwarf wouldn't know the answer any more than he did, he still felt he ought to hold someone responsible and Hoggle had recently spoken to someone whom he shouldn't have. Hoggle started trembling and stuttering.

"H-how should I kn-know? I h-haven't let anyone into the Labyrinth s-since..." Hoggle trailed off, fearing pooling in his stomach as The Goblin King's eyes started burning with rage.

"Get out before I start throwing _you_ at the wall!" He yelled, shaking the dwarf angrily. Not waiting to be told again, Hoggle ran from the room, his heart pounding.

He heard Jareth growl but then nothing. Not stopping, Hoggle ran right out into the city and stopped in a small alley. Panting, Hoggle also sighed in relief at not being caught. He had been the one to get the goblins to answer this girl's call. He had been speaking to Sarah through her mirror when he heard the girl's desperate plea. Unable to live with himself if he had done nothing, he had managed to convince the goblins that Jareth wanted her in the oubliette. It hadn't been hard, goblins were stupid, and although he had but a few seconds in which to make the decision, time was slightly different between the two worlds, meaning he had a few more moments to set everything in motion than if he was just working on the timing above ground. He had hoped that by putting the girl in the oubliette until he could get her, Jareth wouldn't be able to see her in the darkness, even with his crystals. He hadn't counted on the girl having some sort of light source. Hoggle knew Jareth would be watching him now so he couldn't go and get the girl until he knew he wouldn't be watching. He just hoped it wouldn't be for that long. He didn't know anything about the girl, she could have been screaming or scared to death for all he knew. Feeling guilt wash over him, he returned to his small, lonely cottage and continued to feel sorry for himself.

Back at the castle, Jareth had calmed down and had continued watching the girl. He found her interesting. One thing he couldn't quite understand was why her hair was bright blue! It was chin length and scruffy and her fringe was pinned to the side with a small pink clip with a tiny cartoon penguin on it. _A very odd girl_. Jareth said to himself. He noticed that she was reading by torchlight. Of all the things to do when locked up in a place like that! Most people would be sobbing or clawing at walls. Instead this girl was calmly sitting on the bench, reading! Not even his Sarah had been that calm!

Realising what, or rather whom, he had thought about, Jareth silently chastised himself. Feeling a familiar ache of loneliness and loss, he sighed and spun the crystal in his hands. He was trying to see Sarah but all he got was static with the occasional glimpse. Sadly, the few glimpses were of her in the arms of some nondescript young man, which made his spying even less worthwhile. Feeling the gloom that plagued him almost constantly, he stood up and slowly walked to his library to follow the strange girl's example, to get lost in a book. Maybe he would fetch her tomorrow? He could probably use her as some kind of delayed rebound. He could toy with her to make himself feel better. After all, he was irresistible, or at least he had thought so before he got his heart broken. Looking around he realised he was in his library despite not remembering walking there. Picking a book of the shelf at random, he settled into a nearby leather armchair to read as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took so long to update, I've been working crazy hours at work during the summer and now that I'm back at college I can have a couple of hours in the evening free. I'm already part way through chapter 5, so it should be uploaded within the next week or so, though I am working on other stories, fanfic and otherwise. Thank you for those who have reviewed, you're fantastic, I'll reply when I can but I apologise if I don't. Don't be offended please?**

**Disclaimer: Only in the wildest dreams would I own this awesomeness. Well, Beatrix is my creation, she walked in full formed one night. Most of the characters I don't own though, but this is a fanfic...**

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**The Lost and Lonely - Chapter 4**

_Sarah sat on the floor of the black cell wishing she had asked the helping hands to take her up the shaft toward the light. What could she hope for in this place? Four of her senses sharpened in he darkness; she detected a little scratching sound._

"_Who's there? Who's there with me?" Her body was tense with alarm._

"_Me," a gruff voice replied._

_There was another noise of scratching followed by a glare of light as a match ignited and in turn set a torch aflame. Hoggle was sitting there on a rough bench holding the torch up so that he and Sarah could see each other._

"_oh," she said, "I am lad to see you Hoggle." She was so relieved she could have hugged him._

"_Yes, well," Hoggle said brusquely as though he were slightly embarrassed by the situation, "Well, nice to see you too."_

"_What are you doing here? How did you get here?"_

_Hoggle shrugged and half turned away._

"_I knows you were going to get in trouble soon as I sees you. So I—I've come to give you a hand."_

A Helping hand_, Sarah thought and shivered. She has had enough of them._

"_You mean," she asked "you're going to help me unriddle the Labyrinth?"_

"_Unriddle the Labyrinth?" Hoggle answered scornfully. "don't you know where you are?"_

_Sarah looked about her, in the circle of torchlight she saw stone walls, stone floor, stone celling, one rough wooden bench was the only luxury._

"_Oh she's looking around now, is she?" Hoggle's scorn had turned to sarcasm "I suppose the little miss has noticed there ain't no doors – just the hole up there?"_

The torch fell from Beatrix's hand and clattered to the floor, going out in the process and flooding the small cell in total blackness once again. Quietly cursing, she got off of the bench and knelt on the floor, groping around for the torch. She found it and after a few moments but was chagrined to learn that the impact had damaged the bulb, rendering it useless.

Despite having many provisions for many possible occurrences, she had forgotten to allow for clumsiness regarding her torch. At least, with the help of her book, she could be pretty sure she was in an oubliette. Shaking her head, Beatrice realised how crazy it sounded. She was getting advice from a fictional book? Insanity aside, she had to admit it was the only explanation she could deduce, logical or not. What was frustrating was that she knew she was about to read how to get out. She could remember vaguely..._something about a door..._but there were no doors in this place..._only the hole._ Frustrated, Beatrix threw the now useless torch across the room and heard it crack against the opposite wall and fall in pieces on the floor. Still holding the book she tried to remember what happened next. She put the book down on the bench next to her and started running her fingers along the underside of the bench, something she often had done at school when there wasn't gum underneath. At first when her fingers came into contact with something underneath the bench her instinct was to recoil in disgust. Then she remembered where she was, well...possibly, if the world really was insane. _Do they even have gum here?_ Beatrix was once again indulging her tendency to ask herself completely pointless questions. It was a coping tactic. A few seconds later she realised what she had come across was larger than a blob of gum, more solid and more smooth. It had even felt metal. Suddenly her body was telling her that she was suddenly excited. Her poor, confused brain took a little while to catch up. Remembering her phone suddenly she took it out of her bag. She leant over and shone the phone's back-light on the metal object protruding out of the wood slightly to her left. It appeared to be a door handle! Beatrix now understood the rush of adrenaline that her body had produced. It was obviously ahead of her brain at the moment which considering what her poor brain had had to cope with was unsurprising. Jumping off the bench, Beatrix shone the phone light in the direction she vaguely remembered an alcove being. Her instincts were right, it was door-sized. She now remembered how the story said to get out of the oubliette. With some effort, Beatrix managed to fit it in place. She then noticed in the back-light that there was a doorknob on each side. Placing a hand on the one she had found first, she turned it and prayed that nothing too heinous was waiting on the other side...

Hoggle hadn't been able to shake the feeling of guilt and as a result hadn't even bothered trying to sleep. Unable to decide what to do about the situation he tried to contact Sarah. She would know what to do. After a few unsuccessful attempts Hoggle mentally kicked himself. Sarah would be sleeping right now. He then mentally kicked himself again. He knew what Sarah would say. She would tell him to go and get the girl and to hell with the Goblin King. But Hoggle wasn't Sarah, he wasn't brave, he was a coward. He wouldn't be able to do it. Would he? After a few more moments of contemplation he realised he could do it. He had helped Sarah through the Labyrinth hadn't he? Didymus had called him brave man. He helped Sarah and he would help this girl too! The method, he wasn't sure of yet but before he could let that deter him he made sure he was out of the door and making his way to the oubliette faster than Jareth could conjure a crystal...

Jareth closed the book and frowned. He hadn't liked the ending to that story. Evidently these 'Fairy Tales' were not written for the likes of him. They weren't overly fond of goblins. Absent-mindedly he threw the book over his head towards the shelves, where it perfectly landed in the place it had originally occupied. Thoroughly bored but not enough to do anything productive Jareth flicked his wrist and a crystal materialised in his gloved hand.

"who shall I spy on?" he asked himself. He purposely ignored the first name that popped into his head, though the afterthought reminded him of another girl in his Labyrinth. He had forgotten about her, the odd girl in the oubliette. Spinning the orb on his fingertip, Jareth tried to conjure up a live feed of the oubliette and therefore the blue-haired young woman that was within it's walls. He was met with complete darkness. He knew the image was crystal clear, he never screwed up his magic after all...well mostly at least. Her light source must have been extinguished. _Well, I've got nothing nothing to do, I could retrieve her and see if she's in the mood to play 'Jareth wins'. I do enjoy that game..._ just as he made his mind up to do just that, light flickered within the orb. There was light in the oubliette again. Curious, Jareth watched intently, waiting for a flash of blue. He was more than surprised when instead of the strange young woman he was met by the less fetching face of Hoggle, looking more than a little concerned. So the little sneak had lied to him? Jareth felt his rage building. Not only had the dwarf broken rules, he had lied to his King and lost someone in the Labyrinth. Incensed, Jareth extinguished the image on the orb and threw the crystal globe onto the floor. Clouds of glitter engulfed him. When they cleared he was gone.

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**The review button is asking ever so nicely for you to click it and leave me comments (constructive criticism welcome).**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Creative salutations, **

**Tannya (QueenOfGoblins)**

**P.s, The Very Hungry Caterpillar says hi?**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - A place for my head.

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Hoggle was frantic. The girl was gone. Had she figured the way out for herself? He couldn't know for sure because the door/bench always returned to it's original function once used. Before Hoggle even had a chance to start banging his head against the nearest wall, which he felt was probably the most reasonable short-term response to the current situation, burning scones materialised on the walls, filling the prison with light. Hoggle felt everything in his body tense, he was sure even his white hairs were rigid. He winced as the all-too-familiar voice purred dangerously.

"Turn around slowly Hoghead." The voice commanded. Hoggle rotated slowly, too scared even to correct Jareth's mistake with his name as he usually did. The Goblin King looked furious. His asymmetric leather jacket was straining under the controlled breathing the Goblin King was trying to maintain, though it seemed to involve mostly inhaling. Hoggle suddenly remembered remembered a phrase Sarah had used once in reference to a college tutor...

_If looks could kill..._ Hoggle thought to himself, trying to not shake visibly.

"What was that?" Jareth demanded. Hoggle started muttering unintelligibly.

"N-nothing your majesty!"

"Whatever" The Goblin King retorted, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Hoggle sighed, then started to recount the occurrences of the past few hours...

Beatrix was so glad to be out of that dark, overly dry, stale room and out in the open, well sort of. She was walking down a tunnel. All the rocks looked like they were sleeping faces, which was amusing. In fact, Beatrix was sure she could even hear something resembling snoring.

_But that's crazy..._ she thought, then tried to question what wasn't crazy about her current predicament. After examining the rock face for a while she started walking through the tunnel, not unaware of how tired she was becoming. She also had no idea of the time. After seeing a dead end straight ahead of her she looked to her right to find a turning with a ladder just within view. Feeling relief wash over her she ran for it. Her relief was short-lived however, when she saw how long the ladder was, and how broken and decayed-looking it was. Then, despite grave reservations about the whole situation, Beatrix began to climb. Ignoring the pain shooting through he ankle from when she had twisted it earlier. Just when she was near the top and could see what appeared to be a manhole, the rung beneath her foot snapped. She was only holding the sides of the ladder so she slid down a few feet, heart in the throat, tears of terror prickling her eyes. As she climbed the delayed adrenaline made her jittery, which made feeling more careful difficult. However, Beatrix managed to reach the manhole and pushed the cover up and over. Oddly it seemed to fall sideways out of her grasp and thunk a moment later. She was then mildly disturbed to find she was climbing out of a large clay vase-type things. It reminded her of the pictures of the containers that contained wine in roman or greek times that she looked at when she was in primary school. At least she really was in the open now. Beatrix landed clumsily on her bad ankle as she tumbled from the pot and cursed. She was tired and fed up. Looking at the sky, Beatrix saw with some dismay that it had gotten late in the Labyrinth some hours ago. Sighing and yawning at the same time, Beatrix figured she might as well sleep. It was obvious things weren't exactly going as the book dictated as she hadn't seen anyone, let alone the Goblin King telling her she had 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth. 13 hours of not, Beatrix wasn't in any hurry to get home anyway, so she looked around for somewhere vaguely comfortable looking. The best she could do was inside an English maze style part of the Labyrinth, where two hedges met to make a corner. Ignoring the cold of the stone floor, Beatrix leant awkwardly against the foliage. To most people it would be so uncomfortable as to render it an unbearably impossible place and position to sleep in, but Beatrix was unfortunately used to sleeping with cracked ribs and other occasional broken bones. A relatively small amount of pain, combined with her exhaustion, caused Beatrix to fall asleep under the stars almost instantly.

Jareth had listened to Hoggle with forced patience.

"So I came down here to gets her, but she's gone!" Hoggle cried, waving his arms theatrically.

Jareth massaged his temples with his gloved fingers. He conjured an orb and searched for the girl. After a few moments he found her curled up in a corner, fast asleep on the ground, evidently unaffected by what should have been extreme discomfort.

_Really, a most curious young woman_. He thought to himself. He could see most of her face, though her fringe obscured one of her eyes, which was mildly annoying. Not that they were open but still. She was quite pretty he had to admit. Nothing like...

Jareth stopped his train of thought, or at least tried to. Unfortunately a dark haired beauty started twirling in his mind's eye and he had to clench his teeth to prevent any reaction being evident to Hoggle.

Apparently it failed, Hoggle tugged at his monarch's jacket.

"Are you ok your majesty?" He asked. At first Jareth didn't respond, focusing too much on trying not to react that he hadn't even taken in the Dwarf's question. Hoggle asked again and the Goblin King snapped at him in response.

"I have to now sort out your mess, how do you think I am?" Hoggle recoiled as if had been slapped. Jareth simply growled in response and disappeared in a cloud of shimmering smoke.

Beatrix was completely unaware of the brush of feathers.

Review please!

Thank you Sir Casey of the Lea, DyingWithoutTheScars and Blue Eyes Smiling for reviewing and showing your support, at least you care whether this story lives or dies .


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